Forward the Foundation
by Isaac Asimov
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Book Summary Information
Author: Isaac AsimovEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-09-01
ISBN: 0553404881
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Bantam Books
Book Reviews of Forward the Foundation
Book Review: Kind of a strange book, but still worth reading
Summary: 4 Stars
In terms of Asimov's writing, this is the last work exploring the Foundation; the copyright date is actually after his death. However, in terms of the Foundation chronology, it comes early on in the series of novels exploring the Foundation and Second Foundation. Over the past few months, I have felt a need to go back and reread the Asimov works again (it's been quite awhile since I last read these), and this review is one of the byproducts of that.
As some have noted, there is something of a contradiction here. By the time the Foundation series ends (with "Foundation and Earth"), the Foundation is kaput in terms of the future, and Galaxia is to take its place. So, to make his last novel a Hari Seldon novel is a bit strange. Still and all, though, this is a fascinating novel.
There are a couple other books that link the Robot series with the Foundation series. In some senses, this represents the apogee of that linkage, as we see in the first part of the novel, "Eto Semerzel." This character is a top advisor to King Cleon I, one of the last competent royals of the already declining Empire. And, oh boy, what a link is revealed in this segment to the Robot series.
There are three other main episodes, one focusing on Cleon himself; one is entitled "Dors Venabili"; the final part is "Wanda Seldon." Then, a very brief epilogue representing Hari Seldon's last moments. The varying parts of this novel are not seamlessly welded together. However, by the end of his career, Asimov was capable of creating characters (compare with the essentially lifeless, cardboard figures of the original Foundation trilogy). As a result, this work is fascinating in that it is also an index of Asimov's growth as a writer. He went from an academic teaching Chemistry (if memory serves) to a pretty skilled author.
Anyhow, the work is not tightly pulled together, but it is fascinating in its character development, its place in the Foundation series, its linking of the Robot series to the Foundation series. Surely not the best of the Foundation series, but one of the most intriguing.
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